Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to table an explanatory memorandum relating to the bill.

Leave granted.

I table an explanatory memorandum and seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

The last few years have seen the biggest restrictions on the freedoms of Australians outside of wartime. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Australian governments have locked people in their homes, prevented them seeing their loved ones in their final moments, forced some to take medical treatments against their wishes and closed small businesses.

To ameliorate the economic impact of these harsh measures, governments spent more than $300 billion. The massive fiscal expansion has played a role in causing an inflation breakout that continues to hurt the standard of living of most Australians.

It seems obvious that a full and proper inquiry should be conducted into government policies of this scale and cost. Yet, to date, the Australian Government has refused to establish a proper and independent inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is despite the Prime Minister promising Australians before the election that he would establish a COVID-19 inquiry "through a measure like a royal commission." The "Clayton's inquiry" that the Prime Minister has established is an insult to all of the Australians who suffered from the harsh COVID-19 measures that state and federal governments took.

The Prime Minister's inquiry is not even looking into the actions of State and Territory Governments even though the harshest of COVID-19 measures, such as lockdowns and most vaccine mandates, were decisions taken by these governments. 'Actions taken unilaterally by state and territory governments' have been explicitly excluded from the scope of his inquiry.'

Some of the Prime Minister's appointments to the review panel can hardly be described as "independent" either. For example, one inquiry panel member, Angela Jackson, a former deputy Chief-of-staff to former Labor Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner, in July 2021 said that Victoria needed "a hard lockdown and a dose of luck to get through this".

The conduct of the Prime Minister's inquiry also raises serious questions about whether it is serious. Despite being established last September; all the inquiry panel has done so far has accepted submissions and held some "closed door" invitation only 'key stakeholder' and 'focus group' roundtables. There have been no public hearings, no draft report and hardly any publicity. There is just three months until this inquiry is due to report in September yet there is no indication that it will deliver the proper accountability to government officials that the Australian people deserve.

We really should not need to go to the length of passing a Bill like this to establish a proper inquiry because it is so obvious that our government should do this by the stroke of a pen. Yet given our government seems to want to hide from accountability we have taken the step to introduce this Bill so that the Senate, and the Parliament, can do its job and hold the Executive Government to account.

The Parliament cannot establish a Royal Commission because only the Executive government can empower the "Royal" insignia towards an inquiry. However, the Parliament can establish a "Commission of Inquiry" with all the same powers and independence of a Royal Commission, and this is what this Bill would do.

This Bill is based on previous efforts such as those to establish a Commission of Inquiry into the banks in recent years. When it became obvious that the proposed Commission of Inquiry into the banks would pass the Parliament, the then Turnbull Government established its own Royal Commission. We would welcome the Government taking the same action in response to this Bill.

As an aside, this experience raises the question—why is the Australian Government happy to force an inquiry into the actions of third parties like the banks, but not an inquiry into its own actions which have been even more impactful on our economic and social life? This double standard only further erodes the collapsing trust that Australians have in their government institutions.

This Bill builds on the excellent work of the Senate inquiry into the terms of reference for a COVID-19 Royal Commission. We want to thank Senator Scarr for his involvement in this inquiry and the substantive report that he helped write. We commend other senators for their persistence in building support for the inquiry in the first place.

That inquiry clearly demonstrated the widespread support for the establishment of a COVID-19 royal commission. Of the 559 submissions received by the committee, only three did not support it. This bill incorporates the extensive terms or reference proposed by the committee in the final report of that inquiry.

The Commission of Inquiry would be tasked with investigating the response of the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments. The Commission's powers to summon witnesses from State Governments may be limited by restrictions on the Commonwealth's powers but the Bill creates the ability for the States to confer powers on the Commission if they so choose.

While the inquiry established by this Bill will mostly look at decisions made in the past, holding the inquiry is urgent because there are some still affected by COVID-19 decisions in the present, and we must learn the lessons of the last pandemic in case one occurs in the future.

Unbelievably some states continue to maintain vaccine mandates. For example, some firefighters in Victoria still cannot return their jobs because they have not got two vaccines and a booster.

Many people lost their livelihoods through the imposition of vaccine mandates. The Supreme Court of Queensland recently found that the manner in which vaccine mandates were imposed on police officers and health workers breached Queensland's Human Rights Act. Some people continue to be restricted from jobs (such as firefighters in Victoria) due to continuing vaccine mandates. These workers are now seeking compensation for the unlawful mandates which cost them their jobs.

Other Australians continue to live with the fallout of the pandemic response. At least part of the reason for elevated inflation is due to the massive fiscal stimulus unleashed during the pandemic.

In addition, Australia has recorded more than 20,000 extra (non-COVID related) deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. It is still unclear why our fatality rate has remained at historically high levels, but many have put the blame on the lingering impacts of medical restrictions during the pandemic, the health impacts of social isolation and side effects from coronavirus vaccines.

It is obvious that there should be a deep and comprehensive inquiry into the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Prime Minister has established an inquiry, but it is limited in scope, for example it is not looking at the response of State or Territory Governments, even though it was these governments that imposed the most stringent restrictions on civil liberties.

We propose this Bill in the spirit of forgiveness and understanding. We understand the anger that many feel about the decisions that upturned their lives and, in some cases, destroyed their lives. However, to put our society back together we must confront the difficult task to forgive mistakes. This does not absolve officials from accountability. If people broke the law in the response to the pandemic, then those officials should be accountable under the law. This Commission of Inquiry would have the powers to refer such matters to the appropriate authorities.

Equally, there is a need for the decision makers to genuinely subject themselves to examination and be willing to admit when mistakes were made. We all made mistakes of judgement. Early in the pandemic some of us supported lockdown measures that were too harsh. Some of us got the vaccine, a decision we may now regret given that we know that the vaccine was not very effective and caused many severe side effects, including death for some.

The officials who made decisions in response to the pandemic were all human and it is not surprising or shocking that mistakes were made. We exacerbate the harm caused by these mistakes, however, if we are not willing to admit error.

It also seems clear that some officials lied, even if well-intentioned, about some of the measures in the pandemic. For example, many decisions (such as mask mandates) were made on flimsy "behavioural science" grounds to maximise compliance with broader restrictions rather than their merit per se. The wisdom of knowingly telling lies to your own people, even if it does deliver a short-term gain, deserves a proper examination.

Australia now faces another pandemic of mistrust. Fewer Australians now trust medical or government officials. The take up rate of the flu vaccines is at historic lows. Trust will not be restored by governments hiding from accountability and hoping people forget.

We need a proper Commission of Inquiry to close what has been a painful period for many during the pandemic. Such an inquiry offers the only hope that we can heal these wounds and restore the harmonious and high trust society that Australia enjoyed before the pandemic.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.